Americans In Film- Race, Gender, And

Hollywood Shuffle

Robert Townsend’s 1987 film “Hollywood Shuffle,” examines Black American actors’ demeaning experiences in Hollywood. Through mass media Townsend expos film executives’ practices of exploiting African American’s sexuality and identity. He reveals the social implications of white filmmakers who reserve demeaning film roles for minority actors. Townsend implicates filmmakers through visual images and dialogues that are depicted as racial mini skits. Furthermore, he depicts an historical ideology that chronicles filmmakers’ harmful typecasting practices that degrade and dehumanize blacks.

Townsend re-makes storylines that mimic classic movies featuring black actors and Blaxplioataion genre films which stereotype blacks. For instance, he depicts a gangster skit “Jive Time Jimmy’s Revenge, similar to JD’s Revenge a 1976 Blaxpliotaion film. Bobby Taylor (Robert Townsend’s character) an aspiring actor opens the first scene by rehearsing the script with jive talk and vernacular dialect he says: “Toommyy, you killed’ed my brother” (Hollywood Shuffle). Like the legendary black actor Stepin Fitchit, who played coon roles in classic productions, his script reads similar to Taylor’s, “I’se be catchin’ ma feets nah boss” (Bogle). On the surface both scripts are meant to be humorous however; they present black actors as un-educated and idiotic thus, demeaning blacks.

Next, Townsend depicts humiliating experiences blacks endured in Hollywood. For example: the skits “Attack of the killer street pimps,” featuring zombie like pimps, chasing and terrifying women presented as whores. Another skit is advertisement for “Black Actor’s School,” white people instruct black actors how to be black. The instructors’ direct pupils to shuffle around and protrude their heads back and fourth like chickens. Further examples, is casting that have a room full of Eddie Murphy doubles, desperate for roles light skin blacks darken there skin with black shoe polish. This scene depicts the limited